Raygins Reviews #1: Dragon Ball XenoVerse

[Deleted]

Hello again everybody, today Ray is going to bringing you something a little different. Not a rant, rather something that should be a little more entertaining to read. So, as some of you have know I picked up a game recently that about twenty three hours have been put into. I think that's a fair time to go ahead and stop and write this. So today, Raygin will beginning a new mini-writing segment called...

Raygins Reviews

Today, Rays going to be talking about Dragon Ball Xenoverse. Some of you might be asking "Ray, why don't you just do a video rather than sit down and write all this out" well to answer that question...no. Don't wanna. Moving on. So, what exactly is DBX? Is it yet another attempt to milk a stream of coin from the never ending tit that is Dragonball Z? After all, we all know that a game that simply says "Dragon Ball Z" will sell like hot cakes. The name alone is as prestigious as Kojimas, though a few people will feel the need to disagree with me. DBZ is by no means a perfect series, but it's one with brand recognition.

So what is Xenoverse? Well, Xenos is the newest DBZ game to come out and I have to say...it's like a breath of fresh air. DBZ games suffer from the same problem that both Call of Duty and Sonic suffers from. Repetition and ideas that just don't work. So, what makes Xenoverse different? While the 3-D fighting mechanic isn't new, what is new is being able to create your own character. There was one other Dragon Ball game that tried this...but it flopped horribly due to bad gameplay and mechanics. So, Ray will keep this short and go over the pros and cons that he has with the game.

Pros

• Custom Characters - Before you really even begin the game you're thrown right into a Create-A-Character Screen. You have the option of choosing between five races for your character; Saiyan, Human, Namekian, Majin, and Freiza Clan. Each race has its own unique buffs and nerfs, such as the Saiyans having stronger attacks while at the cost of lowered health, while Freiza Clans are the fastest race and have paralyzing Ki Blasts, but have next to no attack power. The races themselves are well designed, each coming with their own strengths and weaknesses. When creating your character you're given quite a number of design choices, being able to make the character that YOU want to be. It's not just appearances though. You're also allowed to edit the way that your character fights in battle. The game offers a basic yet effective leveling and skill point system, allowing you to build your character how you want. Do you want to play a high Health Majin Buu who spams Super Attacks all day? Dump points into Health, Ki, and Ki attacks. It's not an advanced system like the one in Dark Souls, and it won't leave you scratching your head about what the skills do, but for a fighting game it works. Another key component of making your character your own is being able to customize the moves they have. For instance, I am running around with a Saiyan character using Final Flash, along with Solar Flare and Kamehameha. You can receive new attacks as rewards for completing missions, and the excitement of unlocking a new attack and wanting to see what it does is there. Clothing options are a thing, and wearing clothes can boost or diminish certain skills.

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[li]Gameplay - So, how does the gameplay hold up? The fighting system is basic but effective. You have three attack buttons; Light, Strong, and Ki. You can chain light and strong attacks together for combos, bouncing your enemy through the air or off the ground and engaging in very DBZ-style fights. By no means is it advanced, or deep, it's simple. But it's fun. It's a very fun fighting system, and one that also allows for some creative combos. There's one in particular that I feel like I am the only one who knows about, and the excitement I had for creating my own unique combo was great. It's a fun combat system, one that doesn't require such tedious or stressful memorization as something like Street Fighter. You also have four super attacks which are things like; Galick Gun, Kamehameha, Solar Flare and etc. These attacks require Ki, which you can acquire either from the Power Up Super, or from wailing on your enemy. Super attacks are also really fun. When playing with Pie, there's a giggling moment when one of us knocks, say, Frieza into my oncoming Galick Gun attack. Besides the Supers though, you get the Ultimates. These moves include your planet busters, like the Final Flash or the Super Saiyan Vegeta form. Ultimates are flashy and showy, and you can feel the impact of someone getting hit by them. Big and flashy is a reqirement in DBZ, and Xenoverse definitely hit it on the head.

As a 3-D Fighting game you have access to some decently sized Arenas. Namek, in particular, is so large I have every reason to believe it was designed solely for 3 v 3 combat. As a DBZ game, I am sure Namco pointed a gun at Dimps head and demanded that they perfect the flying system. A DBZ game with bad flying is like a GTA game without hookers to beat up. Well, it's safe to say that Bimps did their job and made a good movement system. You're able to either slowly travel across the map, or just straight up blitz through it like a high speed Z warrior. It's a very grindy game, something I do enjoy. I like the grind genre, so long as it's done right. As you play through the story you unlock side missions, Parallel Quests, which allow you to fight characters from the DBZ universe for rewards. PQs are how you get access to new moves and powers, some even requiring over complicated bullshit to get (looking at you Super Vegeta).[/li]
Screenshot of Flying
Screenshot of my Big Bang Combo
Screenshot of big and flashy Ultimate
Screenshot of Parallel Quest Menu

[li]Story - It's not the greatest thing I have ever seen, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Bimps clearly had come creative liberty with the license, so they managed to create both an entertaining and enjoyable story for Xenoverse. The story, without spoilers, involves Trunks wishing upon Shenron to grant him a warrior capable of defending time itself. This is your characters reasoning for being here, though Pie tells me I am wrong when I suggest that your character was literally created by Shenrons wish. You assist Present Future Trunks and the Grand Kai of Time, as they track down two inhabitants of the Demon World who are altering history in the DragonBall World for their own personal gain. And, Ray has to admit, the history altering and seeing what's different is actually very entertaining. I actually busted out laughing at the sight of a Kaioken Goku trying everything he could to defeat Great Ape Nappa and Vegeta at once. It has everything a DBZ story needs. Humor, okay plot, action, and interesting characters. Supreme Kai of Time is an alright character, but I feel like the best of the new ones are the two Demons, Towa and Mira. Both are visually excellent designed characters, so props to the art team for them, though I felt the Supreme Kai was rather lacking. All in all, it's story is okay. There are legitimate moments where both I and Pie burst out laughing at the typical DragonBall humor, or real "oh shit" moments when the story actually caught us off guard. The writing is definitely at its best when Beerus is introduced into the story.[/li][/ul]

But, despite the praises I can give this game there are some serious drawbacks to it.

Cons

• Saiyans are Master Race - It shouldn't be a surprise that I played as a Saiyan Race. Pie, on the other hand, picked a Earthling instead. During our early game PvP sessions he always beat me, but after leveling up and getting access to Super Saiyan Vegeta, we realized something. Saiyan is overpowered. The benefit of the Super Saiyan and Super Vegeta transformations is that you're allowed to spam Supers and Ultimates until your depleting Ki bar goes down. These moves wont deplete the bar, it's the Super Saiyan / Vegeta form that does. You also get a boost to Speed and Attack, thus giving you a distinct advantage over your opponent. Transformation is a big thing in the DBZ universe, as most of the main characters and villians have had some form of it. But, it's severely lacking for the other races. Saiyans get a total of four different Super Saiyan forms. But, what about the other races? Three. All the other races get is Kaioken. This was a severely missed opportunity by the directors. It made Saiyans the master-race. If I had been in development of this game, I would have given the other races some sort of super form as well. Humans could have the Kaiokens, along with Mystic. Namekians could have Super Namekian. Buus could have turned into a Kid Buu forms. And the Friezas I would have done something far more elaborate with. It would have been Rays decision to allow three Frieza forms, each one designed at the beginning of the game. You could then transform into these stronger forms when you got the moves, thus making the best looking race far more appealing. But, as it is now, Saiyans rain supreme.
• Flawed Combat System - I did say it was fun, but I never said it was balanced. As I have played and battled, it's come to both mine and Pies attention that Health is nothing more than a dump stat. There is no point in having Health when the only way to survive in this game is being able to teleport out of the way of an attack. What I mean is, Stamina is the real Health bar. There is a move inwhich being hit allows you to teleport behind an enemy and begin wailing on them. This costs 2 bars of stamina, so it can quickly drain your stamina bar if you're not careful. But, if you're unable to pull this move off and get hit by an opponent you're now forced to deal with one of the worst things in a fighting game; Stun lock. I can't tell you how many times I got buttmad at getting locked into Friezas combo, unable to escape and losing about 50% of my health. It's flawed, incredibly so. It's own fun and simplicity turned against it somewhat, thus making the main way to win to simply combo lock your opponent. Supers and Ultimates are not balanced in the slightest. It's so easy to simply run into someone's face, use Solar Flare, then use a powerful Ultimate to simply finish them off. It's even worse as a Saiyan, with the Super Saiyan form giving you ULIMITED Ki to do nothing but spam the Ultimates. This is nothing to say about the Supernova attack, which has videos of players completely one shotting other Players with it. Combat isn't balanced at all, which someone can say is fair because it's a DBZ game and combat was never balanced in the show. And to that I simply say "Fair, but this is a game."
• So many missed opportunities - The games plot involves your character going back in time to right wrongs in History. You're tasked with keeping the timeline in balance, putting things back on track. As I played through the game I simply noticed various things missing or just lacking. For instance, Frieza skipping all his forms to go straight into his Final. Or the various stages of Cell. The character roster is lacking as well, with a couple simply being different versions of existing characters. There are three Friezas and three Cells. I would have much prefered them to use other, iconic characters and moments in DBZ history. A couple things I would have loved to see; What if Goku had defeated Android 19, what if Videl had defeated that guy at the tournament, what if Cell had absorbed Vegeta, what if s and what ifs and what ifs. Many moments in DBZ which could have had unique spins on them were left out or simply skipped. Characters also simply do not appear, like; Androids 19-20, Babidi, Dabura, Supreme Kai. I feel that there were many things they could have added to the story to make it a more complete experience, but I suppose I just have to settle.

So, all in all how did I find the game? It was a breath of fresh air in a field of stagnant and rehashed DBZ games. It's fresh, it's different, and it's enjoyable. Despite its flaws the game is fun, which I feel is all that matters when it comes to a DBZ game. So, what is Ray going to rate it?

Raygins Rating: 6.5 / 10 | Above Average. Good for DBZ Fans.

[Rose✿]

Xenoverse isnt a bomb like the other DB games. The game got big enough for the servers to be all fucked for like a week.
btw add my gamer tag D: < Songofdashoebox